Strategic Retreat
by Olfrik
Summary: ABANDONED AU through 5th year Harry saw Voldemort reborn and decides to stop being the Gryffindor hero. He takes himself out of the affairs of the war. The tricky part is to do it without anyone noticing. Slytherin!Harry
1. And so it begins

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters from the books. Those belong to the official creator JK Rowling. I do own the plot of this story. I'm just a reader of fan fiction and Harry Potter books.

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Chapter 1 – And so it begins

Harry awoke with a heavy head. It was still early in the morning. The hospital wing was empty and he was glad. He needed time to think. Voldemort was reborn, the bumbling idiot of a Minister was on a mission to make him out as a lunatic, Dumbledore was assembling some old crowd to counter the raise of Voldemorts influence and Harry was going to be carted off to the Dursleys. While he trusted Dumbledore in his assessment of being safe there, he was disturbed by the fact that Voldemorts rebirth was accomplished by a potion using Harry's blood. Dumbledore did not address that at all. And he expected him to trust him without a doubt, even though he had been in life-threatening situations at least four times within his time in Hogwarts. What could Voldemort do to him with his powers in full force and his supporters on a coordinated mission?

Harry had no doubt that he would be on the top of Voldemorts hit-list next to Dumbledore and Karkaroff. And he had seen Voldemort in action. He had no wish to be in that situation again. His skin was crawling in fear and revulsion even thinking of it. And he made his mind up.

He had to study hard to prepare every possibility to escape the next time, to divert attention from him.

Harry knew that he was no match for Voldemort. Neither in knowledge nor in magical strength. But he also knew that he had the willpower to achieve almost anything he wanted if he set his mind to it. He wouldn't have driven the images of Cedric and his parents out of Voldemorts wand if he was weak in will. So he had to study to escape, had to study stealth and disguise, misdirection and playacting.

Suddenly a thought struck him. He was thinking like a Slytherin. He couldn't bring anyone into this. Not even Ron and Hermione. Ron would preach Gryffindor bravery and Hermione would insist on consulting Dumbledore about this. It would certainly be of big help to have Dumbledore in this scheme but if Dumbledore had any plans for him but sending him helpless to the Dursleys, he would have said so. And Harry was stubborn because it were his very own head in the firing line. No Gryffindor bravery would help him until he was at Voldemorts level of magical ability and he doubted that he ever would. He wasn't especially powerful or knowledgeable even within his year mates but he was smart. He just had to stop trying to be the perfect Gryffindor.

The epiphany made him feel ashamed. He had tried for four years to fit into this world and had made Ron his perfect Gryffindor example. But when he looked at how he had acted before he had come to Hogwarts, he had to admit, it was a completely different Harry. He was never so rash in acting as Ron. He had rather ignored stupid comments meant to bait him into a fight then reacted. He had rather run for all he was worth then fight for any honour. Before he came to Hogwarts he had no honour to fight for. Sure he was good in school but he couldn't have achieved higher marks than Dudley, so he studied alone and faked his level in the tests. Once again: "quite Slytherin!". He had nothing to fight for, but his own health. He groaned aloud. "How stupid can you be, Potter, to think that people would be different in the magical world? They are even more biased, just look at the whole pureblood litany, look at fudge!". And Harry came to one conclusion, like in Little Winging he would save his own ass and let the others have the honour. That would certainly expand his lifespan.

And the fact that he had held high to the Gryffindor standards certainly worked in his favour now that he had devised his rather Slytherin plans. He had to keep up the charade for another week before the holidays started. And he had to prepare for his studies at the Dursleys. He had to copy as many books from the library as he possibly could, because there was no time to be fussy. He had to find a copy spell. And he needed help, how could he possibly transport all the books to the Dursleys without arising suspicion? He needed someone who was loyal only to him, no one else, not even Dumbledore.

"Dobby!" Harry called carefully.

And Dobby popped into the room. "Harry Potter, sir, How can Dobby help Harry Potter Sir?"

Harry was glad. Dobby had arrived. "Dobby, I have to talk to you in private, can you put up silencing charms, please?"

Dobby snapped his fingers and hopped onto Harry's hospital bed. "Silencing charms are active, Mister Harry Potter, Sir."

Harry relaxed slightly. "Dobby, If I asked you for help now and during the summer, would you be able to tell no one about anything you or I did?"

"Dobby is a free house elf, Mister Harry Potter, Sir. Dobby chooses to tell whomever he likes. If Harry Potter needed Dobby's help, Dobby would work for Harry Potter Sir and tell no one. Dobby was waiting for the day that Harry Potter Sir would ask Dobby!"

"Dobby, I need to copy as many books as possible and get them to the Dursleys without anyone the wiser. I probably need an extra trunk with a large room to put the books in. If I give you my Gringotts key, would you be able to buy such a trunk? And could you help me copying books?"

"Dobby knows everything about buying this for wizards, Dobby was business house elf at his former masters manor, Mister Harry Potter Sir!"

"Please call me Harry, Dobby, just Harry is fine. Maybe you can find a trunk that I could live in during the summer, You know with a bedroom and a bath, maybe even a kitchen. Can you look for such trunk, there is lots of money in my vault, it's high time the money is put to good use, You can take ever you feel is necessary to buy such a trunk."

"Dobby will find the perfect trunk for Harry Sir."

I think we should do it at night, when nobody is watching. Can you do that on top of your other duties? Maybe you should tell Dumbledore that you work for a nice family of wizards now and leave Hogwarts completely?"

"No, Harry Sir, that would not be good when Harry Sir returns to Hogwarts, If Dobby would be Hogwarts house elf, Dobby could go in Hogwarts whenever he likes. Dobby will manage other duties, Harry Sir."

"Very well, Dobby, if you can manage, I am very grateful for your help. You arrange for the trunk. And I will think how I can manage to perform magic during the summer without anyone picking up on it."

"If I may help, Harry Sir, There is trunks that shield magic from outside. I could by such trunk for Harry Sir."

"Thank You Dobby, that's a great idea, I didn't know that there was such a possibility."

Dobby's head suddenly snapped up. "Harry Sir, Your friends are coming."

"Put down the silencing charms, Dobby, and lets start our plan. I will have to be the Harry they expect." Harry said hastily. And Dobby snapped his fingers and vanished.

Not a minute later, Ron and Hermione entered the hospital wing.

"Ron, be silent, Dumbledore said, we can't ask him about what happened!" Hermione chided. Ron was unfazed. "But Hermione, he saw You-Know-Who and came back alive, it's a fantastic adventure, the first one that he was alone without us helping him. He has to tell us."

Harry pretended to be still asleep. And he was wondering why he wasn't annoyed about this childish statement. He had really an epiphany then, he mused.

When they still didn't stop bickering, he opened his eyes. He put on his face from the night before. The shocked and traumatized Harry. When he told them that he wouldn't go to the great hall because of all the attention, and rather eat in the hospital wing, they left without him. Harry had the strong urge to sigh. Ron was really still a child who thought that everything was an exciting adventure. Maybe he should polyjuice Ron into being him. That was certainly a good idea, they could switch and he would be out of attention. But he couldn't really do that to Ron, he was so naïve and he wouldn't survive a week at the Dursleys without the food of his mother.

He wasn't really hungry, so he dressed silently and got out of the hospital wing. He went out onto the grounds and inhaled deeply. The sun was shining as if it was the finest day in years, but the air was still damp from the night. He wandered aimlessly and strolled along the border to the forbidden forest. On a sunny spot, he found a big stone in the sunlight and sat down.

When he was just starting to relax, a hissing noise caught his attention, he strained his ears and listened again. "Stupid human stole my sunny spot." Harry jumped up. "Hello? Who are you?"

A black snake slithered in the sand at his right. "You speak?" the snake asked him, rising his head.

Yes, my name is Harry. What is yours? "I don't play your stupid games, human. Leave my sunny spot alone." Harry was impressed. The snake was witty and beautiful. It was about two feet long and had glossy black sales. "I did not intend to play games, beautiful one, I was asking how I should call you." "I am known as Black Racer. Now would You leave my sunny spot, This is my spot. You can search for another." The snake proclaimed. And Harry liked him immediately, he certainly had character. Harry stood beside the stone and watched, as the snake made itself comfortable. With caution to his own shadow he sat beside the stone so that he wouldn't disturb the snake again, lifted his face into the sunlight and closed his eyes contentedly. The warmth of the sunrays was sweeping through his skin and warming his very soul. He was just dozing off when the snake spoke again.

"You can call me Ray, You know?" Harry was baffled. He opened his eyes to look Ray in the eyes. "You can call me Harry, nice to meet you." The snake flicked his tongue out and Harry had the rather disturbing urge to do the same. He sat back again and closed his eyes. Then Ray said in a quiet tone. "I like your company, You don't assume to take my spot and don't talk about food all the time. I can tell you, there is rarely anyone of my kind who is capable of shutting their mouth." Harry didn't react. He just listened quietly and finally said: "There are rarely any humans who shut their mouths and let me be. Actually, at the moment there is nobody, Well, Maybe Neville. He seems to like the solitude as much as I do." They sat in silence quite a while after that, neither speaking, just enjoying the sun.

Harry was thinking how to proceed in his plan. He was going to be stuck at the Dursleys with no way to leave. But he had to train and that needed planning. He had lots of experience in preparing for the tournament and had hardly touched the amount of knowledge that resided in the library. And he couldn't just go on and learn new spells. He new that a vast array of spell knowledge wouldn't help him one bit if he was outnumbered or ambushed. He had to refine the art of vanishing. He started to sort through possibilities and finally decided to write it down. "See you later, Ray, he said. I have to get some things done. Will you be here tomorrow?" Ray lifted his head lazily. "Tomorrow then" he slurred and went back to sleep.


	2. One last week

**Chapter 2 – One last week**

Harry went through the luckily empty castle. People were still writing exams and that gave him some time without having to explain every step he took. He went into his dormitory and got some parchment, ink and quill out of his trunk. Then he decided to sit down on the windowsill to write his plans down. When he had made himself comfortable, he started to pour out all his thoughts on the parchment:

- learn magical traveling: apparating, portkeys, find more possibilities

- animagus training

- train to run, martial arts training

- learn and create potions to make oneself invisible or hide otherwise or get away stealthily

- learn to disguise: glamours, potions, mask scent from animals, silent movement

- learn about wards, Do blood wards in Surrey work?

- How to circumvent anti-apparition and antiportkey-wards

- learn about tracking someone so as to make himself unplottable to magical means of locating

- learn Fidelius charm to hide his trunk

- find out about the Voldemort dreams, Am I a seer? Can he see me too?

Then he looked at his parchment and frowned. He had to disguise it, otherwise it was too high a risk of anyone reading it. He went to the library and after a long time browsing the shelves in the charms section found a book called "Distracting the Attracted – Confusing and Confounding".

He found the charm immediately then and took his wand out. He tapped the parchment and incanted "curiorepello!". The parchment glowed shortly in a soft magenta light and went back to normal after that. When he looked at it again, he saw an essay about some 1st year potions material. He looked back into the book. He needed his list to look normal to him. But all it took was a bit of concentration on the actual content and it changed to his list.

Now satisfied he went to the kitchens to eat something and maybe talk to Dobby. But Dobby was elsewhere and he ate alone. Dobby would meet him in his own time. When he was finished, he thanked the elves and wandered the hallways aimlessly while thinking.

He was contemplating, how the whole wizarding community seemed to rely on a very few selected people. That was certainly strange. In the muggle world, there where famous people too, but nobody would entrust as much power in any headmaster or politician as Dumbledore seems to be holding. Not withstanding the attention they pay for one Boy-Who-Lived. That had to be some cultural thing, they certainly trust one or two heroes per century to save the day and live their happy little lives. But how could anyone learn culture, history and politics in Hogwarts? He snorted rather loudly. There has to be wizarding history that does not involve goblin wars.

He walked by the stairway to the astronomy tower and further into Ravenclaw territory. After many twists and turns he ended up in a dead-end corridor. But experience told him, that there were no dead-end corridors in Hogwarts that weren't hiding some passageway or rooms. He touched the bare stone wall at the end and found nothing. But further to the right corner the wall seemed to be an illusion, so he plunged in. And fell.

He fell strait down into a tall shaft, that seemed to have no bottom. Just when he started to panic, his fall slowed and he landed softly on a seemingly stone floor in absolute darkness.

When he lighted his wand, he found that he was in a small chamber, rather an antechamber with three doors in front of him and a large hallway in the opposite direction. He opened the first door slowly to take a peak outside and found the corridor in front of the entrance to the kitchens. He closed the door and opened the second, which opened to a large storage room with all kinds of things strewn about on the floor and large shelves on the walls. Deciding to investigate later, he closed the door and found himself looking at the dungeons corridor that accommodates the Slytherin common room. He closed the door quickly when he saw some younger Slytherins enter the corridor.

The hallway on the other side was large and damp. Spotting some torches in the antechamber, he decided to light them and investigate further.

When the torches were lit, he saw that two portraits adorned the walls that were not moving.

He looked intensely for a while but they were not moving at all. The left one was of an elderly woman with a rather sour expression, the right one was of a young man with glossy black hair, regal looking robes and a calculating expression on his face. Both were directly looking into the hallway.

So Harry went with his wand lit into the hallway, waiting for any sound or movement. After 20 minutes of walking there was nothing but the winding hallway. It rather remembered him of Slytherins chamber corridors but since there seemed to be nothing alive he went further and further. The air became damper and Harry was assuming that he must be near the chamber of secrets, he was certainly under the lake. After another 15 minutes of walking the hallway got narrower and at the end the air seemed to swallow his wandlight.

He seemed to be in a large cavern and could only see 10 feet in every direction. He put his wand light out and with a rather forceful "lumos maxima" he enlightened the whole chamber for a short while. And then realized that he was indeed in the chamber of secrets. Spotting a torch above he pointed his wand into the darkness and tried an incendio. But nothing happened. Then he realized where he was and spoke in parseltongue "Light up". And all the torches lit up at once.

The carcass of the basilisk was looking as if it died an hour ago. He circled it slowly and decided to make some use of it later in the summer. He would need Dobby's help to carry it. Meanwhile he would research uses of the different basilisk parts. He took out his to-do list and added "Basilisk research" onto it. Now that the basilisk was not going to kill him, he could certainly acknowledge its beauty, deadly it may be but an impressive beauty nonetheless. He would estimate it to be 60 foot long. Turning his eyes away from the impressionable sight, he decided to investigate another time. He had to find the way back, if it worked backwards at all. So he decided to walk alongside the wall and try to find the hallway he had come from. After ten minutes tapping the wall he found the hallway entrance and left for his way back. When he arrived in the antechamber once more, he added "Spell to discover illusions" onto his list and went into the storage room to rummage through the items for something useful. Everything was layered with dust and he found it rather tedious to work through. So he decided to clean up first and leave the search for another day. After more than two hours of cleaning spells he was exhausted and sat down on one of the rickety chairs. He looked down on himself and added a final cleaning spell on himself. So he decided to leave it at that and take everything to his trunk and explore in the summer.

He left through the doorway on the kitchen corridor and went for an afternoon snack. When he entered, Dobby was already on his way to greet him. Harry sat down at the small table in the back and motioned Dobby to take a seat as well. Dobby hesitated shortly but scrambled onto the chair finally. "Harry, Sir, wants to talk to Dobby?"

"Yes, Dobby, I wanted to know what you found out about the trunk." Harry answered.

"Dobby found trunk in Nocturne Alley shop, special construction for hiding but customer died long time ago, Harry Sir, Dobby has all papers to look into details and price is 380 galleons, there is enough money in Harry Sir's trust fund account." Harry was elated. "Thank you Dobby, your help is priceless!" he said with a beaming smile. "Dobby, if I go somewhere in the castle, can you find me everywhere?" Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "I found some stuff I wanted to take home with me, but you have to help me pick it up. And, we have to find out if anybody would miss that stuff." Harry explained, a slight blush creeping onto his face. "I won't take anything if it is needed, but it looked rather abandoned and there was certainly no one interested in it in years".

Dobby nodded all the time and Harry wondered if he wouldn't be dizzy after this talk.

"Dobby, when can we meet to take the trunk there, and when can we start to copy the books?"

"Harry, Sir, the trunk will be ready by 7 pm." Dobby squeaked, still nodding his head.

"So when can we start, Dobby, when shall we meet?"

"Dobby will copy books at nighttime, Harry Sir shall not worry, Sir, Harry will accompany his friends and no one will know."

"You are the best, Dobby, you really are! I think it would be best if we met early in the morning to collect the other things."

"Yes, Harry Sir, we meet in the morning." Dobby nodded.

"So, Dobby, we meet at 5 tomorrow, and I will show you what I found. Thank you Dobby!"

So Harry left the kitchens with hope. Dobby would certainly be able to copy the books in the library more efficiently then anybody else. When he entered the common room that evening, the air seemed to be frozen. The room fell silent at his arrival. But after some pointed glares from Hermione, the Gryffindors stopped staring and left him alone. Harry sat with Hermione and Ron and stared into the fireplace. They shot him curious glances but neither spoke. So Harry sat and contemplated. He thought about the way they gawked at him, he definitely had the attention of everybody wherever he went. And Voldemorts too. Why is the stupid snake-face so obsessed with him. If he wanted world domination, why didn't he ignore Harry all together and got on with his scheme? Maybe he really feared that Harry would get stronger and one day kill him? But he was not the extraordinary student, that Voldemort had been. Even his electives Divination and Care of Magical creatures showed that he didn't involve himself with difficult subjects. And the fact that he lived was attributed to his mother, she was the one that put his blood protection in place. And she is no longer in his way. So why would the all powerful Dark Lord put so much effort into killing him? Maybe he knew more about Harry then Harry himself. That would not be surprising. All he knows about himself is that he looks like his father and he has his mothers eyes. And after every End-Of-The-Year-Debacle he learns some tidbits. They could have even fooled him by placing him into this Boy-Who-Lived drama. All he knew was told by others, others who didn't tell him the things he really needed to know. Maybe he was not Harry Potter? But he heard his mothers screams whenever a dementor was near, he certainly lived through his first year using his mothers protection against Quirrel. And he felt his scar active whenever Voldemort was near. So he must be Harry Potter. Pity That!

With that he stood and went to sleep, not seeing the inquisitive eyes of his friends.

The next morning, Harry crept silently out of Gryffindor tower in his invisibility cloak, map in hand and met Dobby in front of the kitchens. The corridors where empty and nobody passed by as he went. The first day without classes certainly helped in that regard, because most people usually slept in. When he arrived at the kitchens, he didn't spot Dobby, so he waited. Curious, where the doorway to the secret antechamber let out, he looked for any clues but found nothing but bare stone walls. Finally he whispered. "Dobby!" And Dobby arrived, just as Harry put his cloak down to his shoulders. "Follow me, Dobby, we have to be quiet!"

And so Harry led Dobby to the corridor onto the dead end. "Dobby, When I step through I will fall into the chamber. I will call you, when I am there." And so he jumped through and fell. When he landed he called Dobby. But Dobby didn't arrive. So Harry assumed that it didn't work as they had thought and levitated himself back up. When he was at the level of the corridor and spotted Dobby waiting, he stepped back through. "Harry, Sir, Dobby is sorry Sir, Bad Dobby, Bad Dobby!".

Harry put his hands on Dobby's shoulders to calm him down. "Dobby, did You hear when I called?" Harry asked. "Yes, Harry, Sir, but Dobby could not follow, Dobby is very sorry, sir!"

"No Problem, Dobby, relax! I am sure it is not your fault! Let's try together!" With that, Harry took Dobby's hand and they both passed through the wall and fell. But the fall didn't slow for Dobby and so Harry put his arms around him, as he saw him plummeting faster than him and they both landed in a heap on the floor of the antechamber.

Dobby scrambled to his feet immediately. "I am so sorry, Harry Potter, Sir!" Harry was still laying on the floor. He looked at the panicking Dobby and assured him that everything was fine. But he couldn't suppress his laughter anymore. He laughed so hard, he hadn't laughed that hard for a very long time. "Dobby", he said, finally standing up. "I think, the shaft doesn't work for you. Thank you for trusting me, Dobby." And he put a reassuring hand on Dobby's shoulder and led him to the storage room. He opened the door and playfully stretched out his arm in a flourish. "Welcome to the secret storage room, Dobby"

Dobby snipped his fingers and a small box appeared on his outstretched hand. "The trunk, Harry, Sir!" With that he sat it gently on the floor and it grew on a twitch of his finger. The trunk looked like an ordinary school trunk. It was of a brown wood with metal inlays and an engraved falcon on the top. "You need to spell the trunk for your security so only you can enter." With that Dobby handed Harry a thick bundle of parchment. It was the trunks manual. Harry perused the first pages and finally found the instructions for the security.

"Dobby, I need a clean knife. I need to drop blood onto the engraving." But Dobby already had a small knife ready for him. He cut his thumb and let a drop of his blood fall onto the falcons head and incanted like the book advised. With a flash of light, the blood was gone. Then he pressed his hand onto the bird and the lock clicked open. Now he was excited to get in and see where he would live in the summer. "Dobby, I will go in and you try to follow me. If you can't follow, I will come for you and let you in, OK?" Dobby nodded and Harry lifted the lid. When he looked down, he saw a ladder leading into a bare room. He stepped in, closed the lid and climbed down. When he arrived he called for Dobby. But Dobby didn't show up. So he climbed back up again and opened the lid.

Dobby was wringing his hands nervously. "Don't fret, Dobby, I told you, I would come back for you, didn't I? So lets see how to allow you into my trunk." With that he grabbed the parchments and rifled through them for a while. Finally he looked up and closed the trunks lid. "Dobby, we have to place both our hands on the falcon for that." Dobby complied immediately and Harry incanted the phrase from the book. With another flash, the lock clicked again and Harry climbed in. Just before closing the lid Harry said: "See if you can pop in or if you have to climb in also. I will come for you, if you can't pop in, OK?" Dobby nodded and Harry closed the lid after himself.

When he arrived, he called for Dobby and was awarded with an enthusiastically hopping house-elf.

The entrance chamber was a bare room with stone floor, walls and ceiling. There were torches lit in the corners of the room, bathing the bright stone in a warm light. Opposite the ladder was a wall with 3 doors. The first opened into a furnished room with a large wooden round table and 6 chairs surrounding it. The walls where of the same bright stone and the torches flickered on automatically.

There was one sidelong wall with a countertop and a lot of cupboards. "This is the kitchen, Harry Sir." Harry was astounded, but then it clicked. Wizards don't need a fridge or an oven, seemingly they don't even need a water tap. "You will have to help me here, Dobby, I don't know anything about wizarding kitchens." Dobby wrung his hands and replied "Harry Sir does not need to cook, Dobby will be Harry Sirs help." Harry was a little put off by Dobby's attitude. "Dobby, I need your help as a friend. We do things together, I don't need a slave, Dobby, I need a companion. Otherwise I would have chosen someone else. I don't want you to cater to my every whim or to apologize all the time. I know that you are quite intelligent, Dobby, and loyal and cunning as well. I want to be your friend. Do you want to be my friend, Dobby?" Dobby's eyes were bulging. "Yes, Harry, Sir." He finally answered. Then he smiled toothily and Harry laughed.

"So, Dobby. Lets see the second room." The second room was about the same size as the kitchen but it was completely bare. The torches in the room lit as in the kitchen as Harry went in. A door in the backside opened into a small bathroom. "So this is the bedroom?" Harry asked Dobby. "Yes, the bedroom, Harry Sir, I hope it suits." Dobby answered nervously. "It's great Dobby. Its got a bathroom and is almost three times larger then my bedroom at the Dursleys. We need to look through the stuff upstairs for furniture. We will decorate it ourselves. I am very happy with that Dobby." Dobby beamed.

The third door opened into a large room. It was twice the size of the Gryffindor common room. The walls held numerous torches and the floor was of polished reddish wood. Along the walls were empty bookshelves and in the far corner stood a large desk, propped against the wall.

"That would be the library. We will need lots more shelves in here to keep all the books. Do you think the books will fit in here, Dobby?" Dobby nodded. "Yes, Harry Sir, the books will fit. Dobby can make more room in here." "That's great, Dobby. So we won't have to be selective about the books now. I can duplicate the shelves to get more, but I have to practice so that they won't vanish after some time." "No, Harry Sir, Dobby duplicates whole bookshelf with shelf included. That won't be necessary, Harry, Sir."

Harry looked at Dobby with his mouth agape. He was dumbstruck. "You can do that?" He finally got out. Then he lifted Dobby up into his embrace and swung them both around. "You are the best house elf Dobby. I am so happy to be your friend, Dobby." And his face was alight with pleasure. Finally he sat Dobby down and felt suddenly embarrassed. "I, I am sorry, Dobby, I was so happy that I forgot all manners, Dobby. I hope, You are OK."

Dobby smiled toothily. "Dobby is fine, Dobby is happy to make Harry happy."

To overcome this awkward moment, Harry turned and went out of the library. "We still need to look at the stuff upstairs, Dobby. Are you coming up with me?"

When Harry climbed out of the trunk, Dobby was already waiting for him. Harry looked around. "So Dobby, do you think, that We can take the stuff here? Do you think that anybody would miss it?"

"Dobby does not know about these rooms, Harry Sir, only you can enter so only you can take." Dobby smiled mischievously. Harry grinned at him. "So shall it be!" Harry proclaimed with a wink and bowed to Dobby, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Let's find the furniture for the bedroom first. Then we can put the rest into the library and sort it later." And so they did. Two beds, a nightstand and three cupboards went into the bedroom. Dobby transported the rest of the items into the library. Harry tried to sort through the piles of furniture, abandoned cauldrons, portraits and trinkets. He tried to open some of the closed boxes and found some with books, some with bottles, some he couldn't open. But Dobby was faster in storing everything away then Harry could manage to think about opening more of them.

When everything was transported into the trunk, Harry and Dobby went into the trunk again. The bedroom had furniture now, but looked rather gloomy.

"Dobby, I think we need to lighten up the rooms a bit. Buy some bedclothes and stuff to make our new apartment more friendly. Maybe some pictures for the walls, and we need dishes and cutlery in the kitchen. I trust you know how to equip a wizarding kitchen better than me. Just buy what we need as long as there is money left for my next two years at Hogwarts. Maybe you could find a magical window. That would benefit the rooms greatly. And a rug for our bedroom. Maybe even a magical fireplace for the library. And a couch." Now Harry was getting excited and he had to stop himself. "Just do what you think will help us in the summer so that I can learn and live with you comfortable."

Dobby only nodded.

"Now that I think about it, I will need somewhere to train and duel and somewhere to brew potions. I don't think its good to do that in the kitchen. Maybe we can get additional room with these magical doors. What do you think, Dobby?"

Dobby nodded again. "Dobby will bring catalogue for magical attached rooms."

Harry looked pensive again. "Dobby, I will need an account reading from Gringotts to know, how much money we can safely spend. Can you get something like that for me? I have no clue how much I have and what such things cost."

Dobby agreed and Harry shrunk the trunk and took him to the basilisk. After assuring Dobby, that it was really dead and Harry really wanted the carcass in the trunk, they decided to get a special box for conservation and return later.

When they returned to the antechamber, Harry decided to take both portraits and they left through the door to the kitchens.

Harry spent the next days silent with his friends. Dobby had told him that he could pop into the chamber alone, now that Harry had taken him there. Harry had given the trunk back to Dobby, who was busy copying books every night. When Dobby told Harry that he had even copied the personal libraries of the professors, Harry had laughed uncontrollably and told Dobby to buy himself an outfit of his choosing plus five pairs of socks. Dobby had moved the basilisk box into the trunk and was busy making the rooms cozy.

Harry had returned to Ray only once. The exams were over and the grounds were full of students. Ron and Hermione kept him busy all the time. Hermione had dragged them into the library to start the summer homework early. Harry was silently thankful for that. Ron had insisted on chess and exploding snap and Harry's to-do-list had grown every evening.

It was finally the evening after the leaving feast and Harry was sitting on his bed contemplating again. Tomorrow he would leave for the Dursleys and start anew. When he was looking at his list he frowned. It had grown over the last week to 2 feet. It would take him longer then the summer holidays to learn all he wanted. But he couldn't return to Hogwarts again and get caught in the next trap. Maybe he could get a timeturner somewhere? But they were ministry regulated. He couldn't ask anyone for an official one. But maybe he could get something from Nocturne Alley. Or from the goblins? The trunk was from nocturne alley also. So why not get other stuff from there. He had to talk to Dobby tomorrow. With that last thought he went to sleep.


	3. To keep going

**Chapter 3 - TO KEEP GOING**

Harry awoke to the agitated bustling of his packing roommates. He had packed all his belongings yesterday and was very glad of that. Ron was still sound asleep in the next bed, he had still played chess in the common room when Harry went to bed. So he decided with slight amusement to wake Ron and get ready for the day. Ron was drowsily sitting on the bed, when Harry came back from the showers. "Ron, you have to get your stuff into your trunk soon, that is, if you want to get some breakfast." Ron was suddenly wide awake and started to throw his things into his trunk. Harry had to turn his back to him to hide a smirk and left for breakfast.

With his head full of plans and hopes, he went to breakfast like every other day of the last week. He seemed withdrawn and pensive, Dumbledores announcement to leave him alone kept the students away. He didn't care for the pitying looks from the teachers and was grateful for the peace it provided.

The train ride went smoothly, the usual interruption of Malfoy and his goons resulted in a spectacular dress down for Malfoy and Ron kept Harry busy with games. Hermione reminded him that he shouldn't write critical information in a letter, but contact Dumbledore when his scar ached or he had dreams. Harry just nodded along. When he met uncle Vernon on Kings Cross Station, he was once again glad that Sirius was known as a wanted murderer in the muggle world to keep the Dursleys in line.

But when he sat in the backseat of the car and looked at the faces of the Dursleys, he started to wonder about their behaviour. They were behaving like usual, certainly, they were really normal people. But on the other hand, normal people didn't starve children and normal people didn't need a mass murderer to keep them in line. And they were normal in every aspect of their lives. Vernon had a normal job, Petunia was the normal gossiping house-wife. They were normal except for when they were in his presence. Maybe he really drove them into some kind of not-normal behaviour. But how? Maybe with his magic, maybe he did it unconsciously. But no, they reacted the same way to every magical person.

And then the car stopped and he carried the trunk up the stairs and into his room. He sat down on his small bed in his room and wondered, how he should deal with the Dursleys. One hour later he was still brooding, when Dobby popped into the room. He then decided to just keep quiet as he always had. Harry was in a rather contemplative mood and didn't notice Dobby immediately. Now that he was about to start his plans freely, he didn't really know how to start off.

Dobby enlarged the trunk in the corner without hesitation and opened the lid. "Hello Dobby!", Harry said, when he looked up and watched Dobby.

Dobby turned and wrapped himself around Harry's knees.

"Hello, Harry, Sir!"

"Dobby, I told you, you are my friend and we will have a wonderful time together. Only us two. Call me Harry, just Harry, we are friends, Dobby, we have to start behaving like friends as well. And we have lots of things to discuss. I have so many things that I want to achieve this summer."

Harry was clearly at a loss about how to go about all the things he had on his list. He always had Hermione to direct him in these matters. He looked at Dobby, more determined this time. "I will have to make a schedule, I have to start at some point to make my own way."

Dobby looked at him with his big green eyes and said. "We shall go into the trunk, Harry and Dobby will make themselves at home and Harry can make schedule."

So they both went into the trunk. Dobby showed Harry into the kitchen, he had not been into the trunk since Dobby took care of all matters concerning his life in the trunk. The kitchen was fully stocked with kitchen appliances, the big table was polished and the chairs were cushioned with a dark green material. Harry's gaze was at once captured by the big window that showed a view at Diagon Alley. People were walking on the cobblestone street and the sun shown into the window, giving the room a much livelier feeling then it formerly had.

Harry was amazed. "Dobby, the kitchen is wonderful, lets see the other rooms!" Dobby smiled so brightly that it lit the whole room. He reached for Harry's hand and dragged him into the other room. It was clearly a bedroom. There was also a window, depicting the Hogwarts lake. On the right side wall of the door were five big cupboards, presumably for his clothes. On the left, right beside the window was a huge four poster bed and a nightstand. The bed reminded of the Gryffindor dorms. He looked at Dobby questioningly. "And were will you sleep, Dobby?"

Dobby looked back at him with astonishment. Dobby will live in the cupboard, Harry, house elves

do not sleep like wizards do, we only rest for two hours at most per day. We do not sleep, but only rest our magic and our body. Harry was floored. He had never thought about how house elves lived, he had just assumed, they had some living quarters down in the kitchens.

"But Dobby, I want this to be our room. I want us to share all of this. You can make yourself some bed, or whatever you prefer on the right side of the room, I will take the left side."

"Dobby's eyes were bright with unshed tears. Dobby is a house elf, Harry, house elves don't share rooms with wizards, house elves are not worthy of your greatness, Harry!" With that, Dobby was starting to hit his head on the wall.

Harry was shocked by Dobby's behaviour, he thought free house elves wouldn't display these disgusting urges to punish themselves. He finally snapped out off his shock, grabbed Dobby and pulled him into a tight hug. He started rubbing circles on Dobby's back and contemplated Dobby's strange behaviour. Finally Dobby calmed down and Harry released him. He was still on his knees, when he next addressed him. "Dobby, I think you are still bound to some degree. You are a free magical being. You have all the rights in the world to live your life as you choose. This compulsion for subservience is not natural for any living being. I will find a way to make your life your own, you did the same thing for me. Without your help I would still rely on the machinations of the wizarding world." Dobby just looked at him for a long moment, then blinked, and blinked again, frozen in place. Finally he grabbed Harry's hand again and pulled him into the third room. Harry stumbled after him, his back slightly bent and his head still reeling. The third room was as large as the great hall. The first thing he saw were rows and rows of bookshelves, neatly aligned, leaving only a small walkway between the rows. The shelves were stacked onto one another at least thirty feet high. On the left was a large fireplace with two leather armchairs in front of it with a small coffee table. The floor was covered in thick rugs of all colours, but much to Harry's relief, only dark colours. Mostly black, dark greys, dark greens and one large dark red carpet. On the dark red carpet was a large desk and a leather armchair. Harry flopped down on the armchair behind the desk, put his feet onto the table and said with a huge grin on his face. "Dobby, this is the best study I could have wished for!" He stood, a mischievous smile on his face, grabbed Dobby into a tight embrace and spun them both around, laughing loudly. Dobby was squeaking in his arms and Harry finally realized what he was doing and set Dobby down.

"So, now I need to make a schedule." Harry mumbled to himself. He sat behind his desk and pulled his to-do-list out of his pocket. He looked at the bare tabletop and frowned.

"I will need parchment and ink and quills. Or better yet, I will go to the mall and by pens and notebooks. Dobby, I will need to go shopping in the muggle world. Can you get me some muggle money from my vault, say £ 1000? That way we don't need to worry about other shopping trips, we might need." Dobby nodded and disappeared. Harry walked out of the study and climbed the ladder to his bedroom to get his school trunk into his new flat for unpacking. When he opened his trunk in the bedroom in front of the closet, he frowned at Dudleys hand-me-downs and piled them on the floor for keeping them in the upstairs cupboard. Then he took the trunk into the study and placed his school books on a nearby bookshelf. The rest of the trunks content was placed in the study, with the invisibility cloak and the map in the top drawer of the desk. When he was finished, he sat at his once again empty desk and felt lost again. There was so much to learn, so much to do and he couldn't fathom how he would ever achieve what he wanted. He looked at his list again and laughed mirthlessly. The animagus training alone took at least three years for the marauders. He would have to learn more then NEWT level for all the other subjects. He sighed helplessly and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. Maybe he had wanted too much… But then he shook himself and decided with a determined gleam in his eyes to learn everything in his power to live his life, without being pursued by the maniacs of the wizarding world.

The first things he needed were writing supplies, clothes …and food, he decided, when his grumbling stomach interrupted him. He went into the kitchen and opened one cupboard after another to find some food, and finally sat down at the table with an apple.

Taking a bite from his apple, he decided that what he really needed, was more time for his studies. He took another bite and stood swiftly, walking into the study and browsing the shelves. He didn't have a timeturner, but there had to be some magic to slow time. Most probably in the charms section. He walked alongside the shelves and met rows of potions books, history, transfiguration and finally found charms. It took him a long time and quite a walk to browse the books on eye level. With a sigh, he realized, that he would never find the right book by just browsing the shelves. He remembered and index charm that Hermione once used to find some information in a large stack of books and decided to first find a book on book related charms. The shelves where stacked so high, that he had to crane his neck to see the top shelf, but for the life of him, he couldn't read half of the titles from where he stood. Frustrated, he went back to his desk, sat down and pointed his wand in the general direction of the charms section. "Accio book on librarians charms!" The bookshelves rattled and he had to duck and hide quickly under the table, because out of the maze came dozens of books. He dropped his wand in astonishment, and when there was silence around him once again, he crawled from under the table and picked up the books that where scattered around his desk. So he sat down and started to look through the books. There were point-me spells for specific books, but he dismissed them all after a short while. He would need a kind of index to choose from. He finally found what he was looking for in a small book on enchanting library contents. It contained a guideline to enchant a pedestal with a book that would contain all the library content and select books by pointing at an entry in the book. It could even provide summaries and related books. Tomorrow he had to brew a potion for the enchantment, get a marble stone for the pedestal and an empty book.

The excitement soon faded and he felt drowsy. His head was throbbing, so he went to bed without another thought.

The next morning Harry awoke at dawn. He sat up and looked around, then remembered where he was and got ready for the day. Aunt Petunia would shout at 6:30 to get up, make breakfast and retrieve his list of chores for the day. He wondered shortly if they had noticed his absence yesterday evening, then decided that his wasn't worth to ponder. Dobby had already prepared breakfast when he entered the kitchen. He sat down at the kitchen table and stretched once again, relishing the feeling of sitting in his own kitchen and enjoying a peaceful morning.

He watched Dobby as he rummaged around in one of the cupboards. "Did you get the muggle money for the shopping today, Dobby?"

"Yes, Harry, Dobby retrieved the money and your account listing." He placed a stack of pound notes and a thick folder in front of Harry.

"Thank you, Dobby, I will need to get up to my bedroom and wait for aunt Petunia's wake-up call. I don't know when I'll be back, it depends on what chores they want me to do."

Harry's mood was already worsening.

Dobby looked up, and with an astonished look said. "Harry, Dobby can make them think that you are not here to do chores."

Harry's eyes brightened. "It would be best if they thought that it was best to not give me any chores. If anybody asked them for me, it would get suspicious if they thought I wasn't here. Dobby, it would be brilliant if you can do that." And Dobby vanished without an answer and reappeared some minutes later, smiling toothily. Harry was grinning too and ate his breakfast with gusto. When he was done, he picked up the folder from Gringotts and went into his study.

The parchments inside were filled with numbers in columns and he didn't understand half of the statements. His head started hurting again just by trying to understand. He made a mental note to learn about business and retrieved the summary on the last parchment. He obviously possessed more than one vault at Gringotts. There were two Potter family vaults, one was obviously for money, the amount had a lot of digits and Harry gave up trying to find out, how much it was. It was certainly enough for several generations to live comfortably. The second vaults content was not listed on the summary. Harry could only guess why nobody had told him about these family vaults. And in the next second he was wondering, why he didn't throw a temper tantrum over this discovery. It certainly spoke volumes about his new expectations of the all-knowing Dumbledore and his "Its for your own good" attitude.

Reading further he discovered, that he would get access to the family vaults at his 21st birthday. So that explained, why Dumbledore didn't bother to tell him yet.

His trust fund held 6386 Galleons, 6873 Sickles and 6781 Knuts. That would have to be enough to financially ensure his new found freedom.

He picked up his money and went out of the trunk for his shopping trip. Dobby was already gone to by the magical items for the library. The bedroom was stiflingly hot when he climbed out of his trunk. He made his way through the silent house to the front door and up the walkway to the mall. It was after twenty minutes of walking in the sunny morning that he arrived in the local shopping centre. He made his way through the many clothes shops, buying everything that caught his eye. When he finally decided that he could carry no more bags full of clothes, he had a whole new wardrobe complete with different pairs of shoes, new underwear, even a leather jacket from the second hand shop. He went into the supermarket and bought a stack of notebooks and pens. He decided to avoid the food section, for he wouldn't be able to carry anymore. On his trip home he was swearing under his breath. His arms were numb from the weight of the bag and he was sweating profusely. When he finally arrived at number four, the house was still silent and he was thankful that he didn't meet any of the Dursleys. He showered and dressed in his new clothes, then went into the kitchen to grab some food. Dobby had already prepared lunch and showed Harry the equipment required for the library, that he had put in the corner of the kitchen for Harry to inspect. When Harry saw the heavy dark grey marble he remembered what he wanted to do today. He couldn't recall any details of what he had read yesterday evening and groaned. He would have to study the book again. It must have been very late indeed.

On his desk the Gringotts folder was still opened and several books were strewn about the tabletop. After freeing space on his desktop he picked up the book and started rereading the enchantment instructions. When he came to the section of the potion he paused. The potion had completely slipped his mind. He needed to check on the ingredients though. The potion would have to be brewed in the kitchen. The ingredients were nothing special but several of them were missing in his potions kit. He would just owl order a complete NEWT potions kit. So he settled back again into studying the potion. By the time he trusted himself to have a thorough understanding of the potion, he felt drowsy again. He had studied for several hours without a break, had to cross reference his potions textbooks and even some new ones from his library. He wasn't sleepy yet but his head was throbbing again. The shear intensity of his studies was painful.

He got up to eat dinner and was taken aback by the sight that met him. Dobby had decorated his study space with cupboards and shelves full of things from the chamber. The little elf was standing on top of the mantelpiece and sticking the picture of the elderly lady on the wall. Next to it the picture of the man was already positioned. He had obviously been studying intensely.

When Dobby got down and they were both looking at the paintings, Harry had an idea.

"Dobby, do you think that these are magical paintings? Maybe they have been petrified by the basilisk." Dobby bobbed his head enthusiastically. "Yes Harry, Dobby senses magic from the paintings."

Harry was thinking again. "Maybe we can restore them. You know, with the mandrake restorative draught. Let me find the recipe." He lifted his wand again. "Accio Most Potent Potions!" This time there was only one book flying at him and he was able to catch it. He settled back at his desk and started to write down the required ingredients.

"Dobby, do we have the mail order catalogue for the apothecary?"

Dobby nodded again dizzyingly and pointed at a shelf next to his desk. "All mail order catalogues are here in this shelf."

Harry took the catalogue from the shelf and began to order the ingredients. The only problem were the mandrake leaves. They had to be fresh. "Dobby, could you sneak into Hogwarts and get us some fresh mandrake leaves? There should be some mature ones in the greenhouse. Would you do that for me?" "Dobby is happy to sneak leaves for Harry!" And he vanished immediately.

Harry's headache was once again making it impossible to concentrate any longer and he went into the kitchen to eat. The rest of the evening Harry sat by the fireplace unable to think anything of consequence. His mind was drifting from time manipulation to the potions he wanted to brew, to the pedestal he wanted to enchant, to the clothes he bought, to the absence of the Dursleys. He finally emptied his butterbeer and went to bed, still not sleepy and not satisfied with his days accomplishments.

The next morning Harry awoke early again. He lay a long time watching the sun rise over the lake and waited for the fog in his brain to lift. He drifted back into sleep and woke sometime later still not able to concentrate on one thing or another. The sun was high in the sky and the lake was glittering. The forbidden forest was as gloomy as ever. He could just make out the spot where he had met Barty Crouch Sr. The guy was certainly under pain when he fought the imperious curse. And then he died. And everything without even getting his warning through. He snorted. He was thinking like a sarcastic Slytherin again. And his headache was back in full force.

Harry sat up straight in his bed. Whenever he was getting somewhere with his thoughts his head started aching. Maybe somebody cursed him, he had certainly never been so short-lived with his concentration. He always ended up with headaches after long study sessions, but now that he looked at it… the last days he had always started something and never finished. Whenever he strained his concentration span, he got this headache.

He jumped out of his bed, dressed straight away and went into his study with a determined gleam in his eyes. But when he arrived there he was lost again. How could he possibly find out which curse was put upon him. Maybe it was even a potion. So he turned around and did the first thing that came to his mind.

"Dobby! Dobby!" he shouted when he entered the kitchen. Dobby was looking at him expectantly. "Dobby, can you tell if somebody put a curse on me? I mean, I have these strange headaches, can you check if somebody cursed me, or maybe I am somehow poisoned?" Dobby's eyes bulged. Yes, Harry, Dobby can try find strange magic in Harry. Harry must undress and lay down on bed." Harry ripped his clothes off on his way into the bedroom, by now his heart was racing. He lay down on the bed and looked at Dobby expectantly.

"Dobby must calm Harry." With that Harry knew no more. When he awoke, he was in his bed under his covers and Dobby was looking straight at him.

"Did you find anything, Dobby?"

"Harry's scar is throbbing with foreign magic, other foreign magic is also on Harry's head. Other Magic is also throbbing in the back, scar magic in the front." Dobby was touching Harry's head tenderly all the time.

"Do you know what it is and how I can get rid of it?"

"Dobby knows not how to make it go away. But Dobby knows it is both binding curse. Harry must search for binding curse and make it better."

Harry was numb from shock, he just stared. Two binding curses. He certainly knew about the scar, but that it was some kind of binding was new to him. He was bound to Voldemort. And the other? Who would put a binding curse on him? He had to get rid of it first thing. Harry was determined once more. So determined indeed that he completely ignored the headache and went straight into his study.

He had to find out about this binding curse. And then he saw the mess of all the unfinished tasks he had set himself. How could he ever hope to find out what to do about the curses when he couldn't concentrate on one thing? He determinately ordered all the different items on his desk into neat piles and took out his notebook. If he could write down what he had to achieve, he would stick to it, now that he knew what he was fighting. First thing on his agenda was to brew a headache cure. Then he would make the pedestal work. Next the timing spell and then the binding curses. He needed easy access to his library to get started and then he needed time. And then he would get rid of the curse. He just hoped that he would stay sane with the amount of studying while having a throbbing headache.

He found a headache cure in his 3rd year potions textbook and took all his equipment into the kitchen. It took him three tries to make it perfectly but finally he was satisfied and bottled the potion. He took a vial of the headache cure immediately and started another batch. With his headache reduced to a low but permanent humming he completed the potion flawlessly. He dedicated a cupboard in the bathroom to his potion vials and went back into the study.

After that, the next task was a constant fight to stay focused. The potion for the pedestal was much more complicated then the headache cure. It took him three days brew the potion, soak the marble and cast the spells over the book and the stone. But after that he was elated. There was only a small problem. All the books had to be put onto the stone. The stone would send the books to their places. Harry wondered how the books would be ordered after that, but then decided that it didn't matter, he wouldn't browse the shelves anyway. Dobby was by his side the whole time. Twice Dobby put Harry back to focus onto his task because Harry had just decided to do something else in between. After Dobby happily announced that he would index the books with the pedestal, Harry went to sleep satisfied.

The next day Harry got to breakfast with a spring in his step. Dobby was already waiting for him with a smile. He reported proudly to Harry that he had indexed all of the books and Harry lifted his coffee mug in a toast, grinning from ear to ear. "To Dobby, the best elf in the world!"

Harry could have sworn Dobby blushed, but it was hard to point out on Dobby's green face. Either way, both were happy, the sun was shining beautifully and life with Dobby in the trunk was enjoyable. Harry hadn't even gone out once since his shopping trip. Nobody seemed to miss him.

Dobby took his guard duty seriously, for it took Harry more and more power to fight the curse. It seemed to eat harder on his concentration the more he fought it. Nevertheless, with his headache potion, his new, rather meticulous style of notes he went to the challenge of looking for the timing problem. With the new pedestal he found books fast, could browse them immediately and send them back as well. He finally exhausted all the spell knowledge there was after another week of pouring over book after book. The solution came to him in an enchanted hourglass.

The hourglass would link to eight gemstones as borders to create a time pocket. It took Harry another week to understand the enchantment. But the biggest problem were the gemstones. Harry needed 8 diamonds of a rather large size. It was painfully obvious that he would need a lot of money to buy the stones. He couldn't steal them either, for he couldn't use magic outside of his trunk and he wouldn't ask Dobby to steal for him. Just because it was important enough for Harry to eventually steal didn't mean that it was for Dobby. And Dobby still did all Harry asked of him without any reservations.

After the evening in the chair in front of the fire, pouring over his latest favourite book, Most Potent Potions, he decided on a rather underhanded method of getting the money for his plans. But he was once again short in ingredients and had to wait for the next day for his owl order delivery.

The next day, Harry was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the delivery owl. He was already pacing in front of his makeshift potions workstation in the kitchen when Dobby popped in, carrying the package from the apothecary. Harry had waited with his dose of headache potion to have the maximal effect when he was to brew the potion. So he downed the potion and unpacked the ingredients. When his head was sufficiently clear, he started the brewing process of the Felix Felicis potion. After two hours he was done. He wiped the sweat his brow, the meticulous work and the amount of concentration had taken a lot out of him. But he was satisfied with the result. The potion was highly toxic if brewed wrong, but Harry was sure he had succeeded. He bottled the potion and sat down exhausted. He felt like he had run a marathon.

Dobby put his lunch in front of him and a goblet of cooled pumpkin juice.

"I need to get to London, Dobby. With this potion I will have incredible luck for some hours. So my plan is I go to London, where nobody will recognize me and play in the lottery. If I get this done tomorrow, I can win some money on Saturday and we can get everything we need next week." Dobby nodded enthusiastically and Harry was feeling dizzy just by looking at him. His head was hurting again.

"I will get some sleep, Dobby, my head is throbbing again. Please wake me in about an hour." With that Harry left and went to bed.

It was already dinnertime when Harry's headache was bearable again. And he was hungry. He got up with a small smile. Maybe his growth spurt was finally kicking in. He was a growing boy after all.

Harry spent the evening at the fireplace, contemplating. He had coaxed Dobby into drinking a butterbeer with him. After a long time of silent contemplation he looked at Dobby, who was sitting on the armchair, his feet dangling happily from the seat. He seemed already slightly tipsy. Harry thought that to be a good moment to broach the subject.

"Dobby?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"I think we will spend a long time in this trunk. It will probably take me three or four years in the trunks time to learn everything I want to learn. Did you have plans for the time in the trunk? I mean, do you want to start a hobby in the meantime. What do you want to do when I am busy and there is nothing left to do here?"

"Harry shall not worry, Dobby will work. Dobby will be busy."

"I mean Dobby, maybe we should by some stuff for us to do while we are here. Like we could by painting utensils or such things..."

"Dobby will be happy with Harry."

Harry sighed. Dobby was so undemanding, it was bothering him a lot. He had thought a lot about Dobby and the time in the trunk. Since he realized how much time they would spend confined in this trunk, he was thinking about it constantly. If he could think clearly that is.

He downed another vial of the headache potion. The headaches were getting worse still. His temples were under constant pressure. He felt like something was closing in on him. It took him a greater effort every day. Tomorrow he would go to London and play in the Lottery. Then he would make plans for the time in the trunk. He was already unnerved by the fact that he was constantly sending for potions ingredients. He had to get a big stock for his time in confinement here. And he had to find a solution for the food problem. He couldn't stock food for three years, could he? And then there was Dobby. Harry's first goal when his head was clear was to find a solution to Dobby's serving compulsion. And then, when he got Dobby free, and he had no doubt that he would get him free, Dobby would have to find some Hobby. Harry had already collected some things he wanted Dobby to try. Among them were painting, tailoring, herbology and even flying. He would buy Dobby a broom. Maybe they could play a seekers-only Quidditch game once in a while. And he had to check the catalogues for additional rooms for the trunk. He would buy rooms for a potions lab and maybe even a greenhouse. Maybe they had some room that was like outdoors. That way he wouldn't feel imprisoned in the trunk and he would get some much needed exercise. And he needed something like a duelling chamber. He would need some spell casting training.

His thoughts went further this way and that. Drifting from one topic to the next, like his brain always worked when he was not meticulously concentrating on one thing and consequently work up an ever growing headache.

Harry awoke late the next morning, his head still aching. He downed the headache potion immediately and got up slowly. He needed so much sleep these days, he had no doubt, he wouldn't get anything done without the headache potion and the constant fight to stay on topic.

Harry downed an aging potion and looked in the mirror. He looked like he was about twenty. There where even stubbles on his face. And he wondered when he would need to start shaving. He was quite satisfied with his looks.

Dobby took him into a restroom of Heathrow Airport. Harry downed his luck potion and waited to let himself guide to the next lottery shop. But he instead took a cab and told the driver at every turn where to go. He finally got the feeling that he had arrived at his destination and told the driver to stop. When the cab was gone, he let himself guide into the next lottery shop. Everything went smoothly, like he had planned and Dobby took him home from a nearby deserted alley.

When Harry arrived in the trunks kitchen with Dobby, he felt uneasy.

"Dobby, take me back to the alley, please, I think there is unfinished business for me yet." Dobby popped them both back to the alley and Harry walked straight out onto the main street. He walked about ten minutes and finally ended up in a pawn shop. The shop was rather shady. It looked like an antique store. He browsed the shelves and ended up holding a mediaeval dagger and a long leather coat in front of a wooden chest. The wood looked dark from age and oily. The corners were framed with large emeralds and there was no lock in sight. The shopkeeper was suddenly standing in his back, nearly breathing down his neck. He was an eerie fellow and Harry wondered if he was related to Ollivander.

"The gemstones are quite valuable, but nobody could ever remove them from the chest, nor could anybody open it. You can have it for £ 100. It is a beautiful sight, this chest, it's been in this shop for generations. People don't even look at it. Plebeians that they are, no respect for true beauty."

The pull from the chest was so strong that all he could do was not to touch it. He knew that something magical would happen if he did. So he turned around, arriving almost nose to nose with the old man. "How much for the chest, the coat and the dagger?" "£160 for you, young man. I hope you will use them wisely." Harry was once again reminded of Ollivander but didn't dare to ask. He handed the money over and bent down to get hold of the chest to get out of this eerie place. Just when he was to touch the chest he felt another pull towards the front desk. He walked over and looked into the glass decked desk. Displayed there were all sorts of jewellery. But the pull came from a rather dull looking medallion in the showcase. So he bought the medallion for another £ 20 and finally left the shop carrying everything rather clumsily.

When he arrived in the kitchen once again, the pull from the chest was nearly unbearable. He dropped everything and got onto his knees by the force of the pull and the head splitting headache. His eyesight was blurry and his knees where week. It was all he could do not to cry out in pain. The travelling with Dobby was normally a dizzying, but bearable addition to his headache but the last trip was evidently too much. All he could register was a cool liquid that was forced into his mouth and then blissful darkness.


	4. Manic preparations

**Chapter 4**

Harry awoke groaning. His headache had not receded on its own. When he opened his eyes, he saw Dobby holding the headache potion out for him. He downed it quickly and tried to order his mind. And then he remembered the mornings events.

"How long was I out, Dobby?" Harry croaked. "Six hours, Harry. Dobby was so worried. But Dobby prepared dinner. Come eat, Harry will be better after food."

Harry got up, the potion was kicking in already. Though it didn't completely vanish his headache, it allowed him to think. He ate in silence, his mind already sorting the next steps to take.

"Dobby, You have to keep me in line again. I cannot afford any distractions. I will study the rest of the week on these bindings in my head. Then on Monday I will open an account at a bank and claim my lottery winnings, if it worked, that is. Oh, and I will have to create an ID for my elder self to open the bank account. But back to the topic. I cannot afford to open the trunk or look into any other topic. You need to stop me if I drift and keep me on track. I trust you to keep me on the task, Dobby."

Dobby nodded solemnly. "Yes, Harry, Dobby will keep vigil."

Later that evening, when Harry was sure that the Dursleys were asleep, he crept out of his room. The house was quiet but for the snores coming from the master bedroom. Uncle Vernons wallet was always with the keys in the corridor. He silently searched the wallet for the ID, the whole time with one ear on the regular snores of the upstairs bedroom. When he eventually found it, the silence was broken by a thump on the entrance door. That had to be Dudley. He fumbled with the wallet, finally closed it and rushed upstairs again, grateful that he had taken off his shoes. When he was in his trunk again, his heart beating fast, he didn't know if he should curse himself for almost getting caught or be glad that Dudley always lingered at the door because he couldn't find his keys. Probably both. Oh well…

But now Harry was wide awake. He could as well get started. It took him more than an hour to transfigure a piece of parchment into the ID he needed. To put the data he had invented there was easy, the consistency of the material was the tricky part. But he managed after another dose of the headache potion. He entered a London address and a picture of his look from the morning and in the end was very satisfied with the outcome. And then he wondered why he didn't feel any guilt for cheating like this. For this definitely was cheating. He wouldn't even have come up with the idea a year ago. He shrugged mentally and went to sleep.

Harry spent the next days pouring over various books on bindings. Dobby couldn't tell anything more specific on the type of magic that was involved. He apparently could only sense the raw magical patterns and a vague binding to something or someone external. Harry had studied books on curses and hexes and even potions, but had yet no lead. And he couldn't try any countercurses or antidotes right away, because he wouldn't mess with his head more then was already done. He finally sat down to try the logical approach and started all over. First he had to find out, what magical bindings were so that he could narrow down in his search. This resulted in even more headache, but he had to admit, he learned a lot on the way.

Magical bindings was a whole area of its own. There were bonds, like marriage bonds, enslavement bonds, and many more, which linked two people together. Then there where magical bindings between persons and magical objects, like the Weasley family clock. And then finally bindings between two magical objects, like enchanted mirrors. Some practical uses involved even more then two persons or objects to link together. Then there were bindings in the sense of restrictions, which included oaths and circumstantial memory blocks. Oaths bound the magic user by his own word using his own magic. Circumstantial memory blocks are bindings that were invented for security reasons. The affected person would recall certain memories only under specified circumstances. Though he had learned a lot about binding and its uses, he had no solution by the end of the week. But he had a lead.

His problem couldn't be a bond, because all bonds were consensual. He couldn't say if he was under any memory spell, who could, after all tell if he was obliviated? But there seemed to be one consent. All non-consensual bindings were breakable with enough willpower and control of mind. And he had willpower, but mind control? So he had started on a book called " Magics of the mind. Keep your head to yourself!" He had spent hours on the meditative exercises in the book, but had yet to register any result.

Harry studied intensively the whole Sunday to prepare for the time enchantment. He studied the incantations and the wand movements over and over, ensuring that he got it right. Dobby had procured a large hourglass. Harry had vanished the sand in the glass and cleaned it over and over. But the hardest part to accomplish were the runic engravings that had to be put onto the crystals. The end result looked rather simple, the spell was anything but. He had practiced the engravement on various stones that Dobby had brought into the trunk.

Finally it was Monday and Harry went out to check if he really had won in the lottery on Saturday. He had taken the ageing potion again and went into the mall.

He didn't know how to go about the claim to have won, so he just looked in the first newspaper he found for the winning numbers. And he had won. He had to suppress an outburst of joy and turned around quickly to walk off his agitation. It had worked.

The day went by just how he had planned, he mused, when he sat by the fire in the evening. He was a lucky guy after all. With all the troubles he got into, he always got out rather lucky. Maybe his mothers protection consisted of a gigantic good look charm. He sipped the last of his butterbeer. About 600.000 pounds. Now he had to wait for the money and then send Dobby off to get the diamonds. After that he would really start off. Tomorrow he would compile a list of things to buy for the time in the trunk, he would indulge himself and Dobby. Better without him knowing of course. Dobby would just tell him about how house elves where not worthy after all. Sometimes he wondered if Dobby was in fact right. Maybe it was truly in his nature to serve. But that contradicted all laws of nature. Who knows how long they had been enslaved, house elves themselves probably couldn't remember. Every living thing got something for what it gave. What was it, that house elves got from serving wizards?

After the time problem was solved he would investigate the chest. The strange pull towards the chest was completely gone. It was probably generated by the luck-potion.

The next morning Harry awoke to movement on his bed. Dobby was jumping all over the room, including the bed. Harry closed his eyes and was just about to curse the idea of having Dobby around for such a long time when Dobby's words registered in his head. It was his birthday and Dobby was singing! He was in fact contemplating how to postpone the event to escape Dobby's rather shrill singing. He had forgotten. He had always waited for the letters and gifts from his friends and this year he had forgotten it altogether. He got up and looked at the two packages. The first one was filled with Honeydukes chocolate from Ron and Hermione, the second one was obviously from Dobby, containing a rather misfitting assortment of socks. The chocolate on the other hand, he didn't understand why Ron and Hermione bothered at all. Like he would eat chocolate, cheer up and they got their golden boy back. He smiled mirthlessly. They hadn't written anything consequential in the last weeks. He didn't know how he would deal with them when they met. They were like strangers to him even now, maybe not strangers but like kids who didn't grasp the cruelty of the real world. And to be honest, he didn't want to be the one introducing it to them. And Sirius was probably still busy with Dumbledore.

He had forgone any meditation but his headache was almost gone anyway with the help of the potion. Sometimes it flared up just like a dying flame. The idea that these flare-ups might be triggered by specific thoughts or objects had crossed his mind, but he had found no pattern. He was getting more and more scatterbrained, however. And his emotions where all over the place, he had sudden flares of elation, expectation, hurry, impatient anger or a sudden urge to laugh. One time he had shocked himself shitless by cackling maniacally. But the pressure to get into his timed exile was weighing on him, he had consequentially abandoned any other thoughts So he spent the day engrossed in various catalogues to list things he would buy for their time in isolation.

He had first worked through the magical construction catalogue. His selection included a potions lab, a large outdoor room with a lake inside and two working chambers for himself and Dobby. He decided that he didn't need a special duelling arena. He didn't want to get into fights after all, he wanted to get out of them. So he had decided that they both would get a room that they would use as a workshop for whatever they decided to do for their leisure. He had also bought a smaller outdoor room to use as a greenhouse. He would keep Dobby busy in the greenhouse. Then he had gone through all the catalogues and picked everything that peeked his interest rather carelessly. He had the money to do so that after all. And how in Merlin's name should he know what would interest him in a years time?

And after all, he had to decide what he wanted to do sometime in the future, because until now he had just decided what not to do. He grinned. That was a rather mature thought. And it didn't worsen his headache. The muggle appliances where a problem. He had a whole page of things he wanted to buy and no idea how he would manage to get everything into his trunk.

He was staring into the distance, trying to come up with a way to get the stuff into his trunk without notice, when Dobby popped up in front of him with a tray of food. He had forgotten his meal again and he hadn't cooked once in the kitchen, Merlin he didn't even try once. But now was not the time to argue. He was quite comfortable with it after all, and Dobby too.

Afterwards he went back to his desk to select things to buy. He felt like a five year old in a candy-store. And he wondered why he had never thought about shopping for himself before. The money he had in his vault was enough to buy almost everything an eleven year old wanted. Oh yes, now he remembered. The Dursleys would have taken everything away, Ron would have been green with jealousy and Hermione would have scolded him on childish behaviour. He was never that good in confronting people and standing up for things he wanted. He either didn't do them or didn't tell. Like right now. Oh, well. And he was bursting with this terrible hollow laughter again.

He concentrated on the catalogues again, took the next catalogue from the stack, it was from Flourish and Blotts. Then he looked from the catalogue to the bookshelves and back. The books were enough for a lifetime, so he stacked the catalogue on the other side, but halted when he saw the advertisement on the back. It advertised a bottomless backpack. It would be ideal for his coming muggle shopping.

"Dobby!"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Dobby look here, " and he showed him the advertisement. "Go to the bookshop and get me one of these backpacks, please. And ask the goblins for information on how to open a new vault. Don't tell them who I am, I will use another name for the new vault. Also ask them for bank transfers from a muggle bank. We will need to pay from the new vault from now on."

Dobby vanished and Harry was back to picking stuff from the catalogues.

It took another two days to get half his money transferred to a high security vault at Gringotts. The goblins didn't need a name in the end, Harry provided Dobby with a blood sample and the vault would be keyed to his blood and magic. Dobby was in and out of the trunk the whole time after that, getting everything that had been marked in the catalogues. Harry had gone to the mall and bought everything he thought could be useful.

Dobby was at the moment picking up stuff from a rented storage space in London. Harry had sent all the bigger purchases there. A computer with lots of programs and games, some weight training equipment and even a couch for his study. After that he would send Dobby to the botanist to get all sorts of plants for food and potions ingredients. That would keep Dobby busy and solved a part of the food problem. A problem that he identified only this morning. How the hell would he get food for his time in the trunk? He had first contemplated the idea of buying some cows to have fresh meat but in the end remembered that he had to butcher them himself and rejected the idea. He knew that he had gone completely overboard with his purchases, but who cared if he himself didn't? Great men are said to be crazy after all and the sorting hat had said he would be great in Slytherin. So now that he acknowledged his inner Slytherin, he could be great and maybe crazy. He had certainly cackled like a maniac that one time.

Harry kept busy. He had added the doors to the antechamber, which now looked rather odd. There was almost no wall left, because of all the added doors. He had a full stocked potions lab by now, theoretically, all the supplies were still packaged. The outdoor room looked like a clearing in the forest. There was a small lake and some trees on the borders. The first time he tried to reach the end of the room on one side he landed on the other side again. The ceiling was showing the sky but he didn't know how far up he could go. It would certainly be unpleasant if he arrived suddenly in the floor. He had to try that carefully on a later date. Or he would read the manual.

But now he didn't have the mind for these thoughts. His headache had receded again while he was unpacking and he was skipping from one task to another. But he didn't care at the moment. He had to sort out all the purchases and there wasn't much to think. The workshops for himself and Dobby looked like large storage cupboards at the moment. He put everything in there that didn't specifically fit somewhere else. Like all the painting utensils, the tailoring equipment and all the other boxes, some of which he couldn't even remember to have ordered. The greenhouse was another outdoor area. He just installed the door and left it like that.

When Dobby was finished in stocking the greenhouse that evening, Harry was sipping butterbeer at the fireplace. Now that he had all his purchases ordered in the rooms, he had no enthusiasm for any of them. He was simply exhausted. He had only one question left. Where to get the food? He didn't want to die from hunger and he didn't know if he could get out while the hourglass would be active. And the worst thing, he couldn't estimate how long it would last. It could be any timeframe. The book was very unspecific on that. It was a combination of the strength of the spell, the quality of the diamonds, the size of the hourglass and so on. Harry had calculated for roughly thousand days, but he could have as easily made several shorter ones. But now he was set. He just had to be careful. The description in the book wasn't that clear on the subject as well. The resulting timeframe was somewhat mystically described as "the time that magic grants you." It could be anything from three days to three years or even more. He had to study the book again, there had to be some failsafe mechanism. Otherwise he had just run off without thinking on another escapade.

"Foolish Gryffindor!" he said out loud, chuckling. He got up to get the book once again. After a short while he found it. There was a finite spell that you could cast on the hourglass. The whole enclosed area would be warded for the time being. So no going out. But the finest part was that the whole time pocket, for any time inside took only one day on the outside.

"Dobby!"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Your next and most important task, Dobby, is to organize enough food for thousand days."

"Dobby will get food and put all food in stasis, Harry." Answered Dobby.

"How long will you need for that? I wanted to activate the time-spell in the morning. Will you be ready by then?"

"Yes, Harry, Dobby will manage."

Harry got back to his armchair and Dobby vanished. He had quickly learnt that trying to have Dobby as an equal was rather exhausting. It just didn't work and he wasn't in the condition to fight over these matters. He just hoped that he wouldn't start to talk like Dobby, because he doubted that Dobbys speech patterns would change. Maybe it was better to stay without Dobby after all. No, everything he had planned included Dobby and he would just keep him busy.

Harry got up in the early hours of the next day. Dobby awaited him with breakfast in the kitchen and he wondered shortly, how Dobby could manage to get all the food in one night, but refrained from asking. It would result in Dobbys long speeches about the great Harry Potter and the duties of the house elf once again. And he had no patience for that now. Then he decided that some time for meditation was in order and tried his best to exercise like he had read in the book. He never managed to clear his mind completely, but achieved a relative calm in his head, so that he could go on with his work. After an hour he finally decided that he was calm enough and started the enchantment. Dobby had fixed the rune engraved diamonds on the outer corners of the trunk. All he had to do was start the chant and be careful to not make the timeframe to long. He could start over, after all.

In the antechamber he positioned the hourglass on the floor and started the chant. A watery light blue beam shot out of his wand and enclosed the hourglass in a pale light. In every repeat or the chant he could feel the hourglass drawing more magic from him, like a suction. Then a mist began to form in the upper part of the glass. It got thicker and thicker and finally looked like a silvery liquid clinging to the top of the glass. By the time deep blue beams shot out of the liquid, he was sweating profusely but he couldn't be distracted by looking for their targets. He held the chant for another moment and then lifted his wand in the closing pattern of the chant his knees buckling. The hourglass rose into the air until it stopped to float overhead. He didn't know how much time he had encapsulated, but it looked as it was supposed to. He sat back on the floor and grinned at Dobby. The feeling of elation was certainly reasonable this time, he started laughing again. When his laughter subsided, all his energy was seemingly spent and he felt rather exhausted. So he went to bed without further thought.

* * *

AN: Yes, I am back, next chapter coming soon.  



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